Posted on February 25, 2000

• “Frozen” is new today in the Pickle Jar and on the New Images page. This is my first “space scene” developed 100% inside Lightwave. There are lots of things which could go in the foreground of this image, and I’ll be thinking hard about that, but for now I think it makes a nice background all by itself. Simple.

Posted on February 21, 2000

• Good news and bad news this morning. First the bad news: no 2000 gallery yet. My addition of the Picklejar has made things a little more complicated then simply extending the galleries that are already present. I assure you that it is a priority.

  Now the good news. I just posted 2 new images, and a few different renders of some older works.

  “The Gardener” is the first of the new works. My point here was to experiment more with Deep Paint 3D and try out “interior design” using World Builder. There are two “alternate” versions available in the Pickle Jar.

  Also new is “Ripples“, another “learning exercise” using the same software which created the Ocean for “Two Ships”. The true power of the software can better be seen in this short animation (ripples.avi [an error occurred while processing this directive] download).

  I’ve also posted a couple of earlier renders of “the Sentinels” and a couple of extra renders from “the ships“.

Posted on February 14, 2000

• I hope you all are having a wonderful Valentine’s Day (if you celebrate that sort of thing). Since last week I’ve been up to my eyes in “Deep Paint 3D”, trying to figure out how to texture my Lightwave objects and then have that same texture work in World Builder. Not as simple as it may sound. My efforts in this area should lead to improved versions of the Pagoda and Neptune’s Garden soon.

  For now, however, I have my first “tester” image to show you. It’s called, originally enough, “Sentinels 2000” and it is available in the Pickle Jar and on the New Images page.

  I’ve also honored a some of your requests. You can now download a “shipless” version of “Ships Passing”, and I’ve made my “CD Cover” available as a wallpaper. Both of these images are available (for now) in the Pickle Jar. Enjoy!

Posted on February 9, 2000

• Added two final versions of my first water test. Most of you seemed to like the second one that I posted, which is essentially the same as the first accept for a few thin clouds. I, on the other hand, agreed with the minority that sun shining from the center of the image made it too bright to look at. As one member put it “I have to wear shades to look at it”.

  Of course, the cool thing about the Pickle Jar is that you are free to chose whichever version you want. The fourth revision is sort of a comprimise between the 2 and 3rd in that I toned down the haze somewhat and brightened the sun. The fifth version is a “noon” shot and is available in the Pickle Jar. I just wanted to see what the scene would look like brightly lit. Both versions are on the New Images page and in the Picklejar.

Posted on February 8, 2000

• I know, sometimes I don’t know when to leave well enough alone. One of the things, though, that bothered me about my last post was that lacked any sort of “atmosphere”. Lightwave, of course, was never designed to be “world building” software. Most of the images you’ll see done with it are either simple still life renders (one object) or are interior scenes. Well, I wanted to add clouds to the sky in “Two Ships Passing” but I just couldn’t find a good way of doing it. The water/haze plugin I used to create that nifty ocean environment is very picky about what objects can cast/receive shadows and reflections. I doesn’t allow you to add clouds to the sky (like in Bryce for example), so you need to use another plugin for that. The problem is, plugins don’t always get along with each other. I think I managed to find a happy medium though.

  Anyway, many crashes and failed attempts later, I’ve posted two new versions of my “Ships”. The version I am happiest with is posted on my New Images page, and all three are available in the Pickle Jar. I’ve love to hear your ideas on which one you like best

  I’ve also added another animation featuring the new ocean environment and you are welcome to download it. It’s a 480 x 360 animation and is [an error occurred while processing this directive] to download. Hope you like!

• Some of you have written asking how you can use the animations on your destkop. Right now the only way I can think of is by downloading a screensaver which will your animation files full screen. There is a nice free one available for downloading at http://www.stanford.edu/~bfcarter/aviss/index.html